Sadhvi Prachi courts controversy yet again, says there are terrorists in Parliament

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi is at it again. This time she has stoked a fresh controversy by claiming that there are one or two terrorists in Parliament. Talking about the terrorist captured during the Udhampur terror attack, Prachi on Thursday said that he should be handed over to Hindu organisations. “I humbly request the Centre to hand over the terrorist to Hindu organisations after getting all the information from him,” she was quoted as saying by News18 . She further alleged that even Parliament was sheltering some terrorists in the form of MPs. The saffron leader was speaking to mediapersons in Roorkee when asked about some opposition to death penalty for 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon who was hanged on 30 July in a Nagpur prison. “It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one-two terrorists sitting there. I do not think there can be a bigger misfortune for India than this as they who, are disobeying the judgement of a court, because the court has proved that he(Yakub) is a terrorist. When the court has already proved so, those supporting the terrorist are terrorists themselves I believe,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_2381820” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sadhvi Prachi said that there are one or two terrorists in the Parliament. IBNLive[/caption] When she was later questioned about who she referred to as terrorists in Parliament, Prachi lashed out at the media and told India Today, “You want to twist my statement and you want me to take names needlessly.” She also said that her statement was only against those who talked about breaking up the nation. “My statement was against those who speak against the death penalty. They are insulting the Supreme Court. They should be punished,” she said. “Kuchch log Yakub Memon ke marne pe aise ro rahe hain jaise Raavan ke marne pe Mandodari chhaati peet ke ro rahi thi (Some people are crying over Yakub Memon’s death just like the way Mandodari was helplessly crying after Raavan’s death),” Prachi said. Shortly after Yakub’s execution, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had said he was saddened by the hanging of the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and said that the “state-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too.” Tharoor also argued against the death penalty. On being asked on what Sadhvi Prachi thought about BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha also having opposed Memon’s death penalty earlier, Prachi lost her cool again, changed her stance and said that her statements were only against “the terrorist who said it is fun to kill Hindus.” This is not the first time Prachi has made a controversial remark. Earlier in March, Prachi had said that Hindus should boycott movies by the three Khans of Bollywood because they promote ’love jihad’. Not only that, earlier she even offered matrimonial advice to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi saying he should marry an Indian girl. In February, Prachi said that the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme will continue till the 15 crore people who, she claimed, have left the Hindu fold post-Independence, are “reconverted to Hinduism”. “The ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme launched by some Hindutva organisations would continue until all the fifteen crore people who have left the Hindutva fold after Independence are reconverted to Hinduism,” Prachi had said. The Hindutva leader had sent out shock waves earlier by questioning the Father of the Nation title to Mahatma Gandhi and by calling it “unwarranted”. “The title of the Father of Nation to Gandhi was unwarranted because the true sacrifice for attaining freedom was carried out by others,” she had said. Prachi had also urged Hindus to have four children. “Earlier we used to say hum do hamare do. But now we have started saying that sher ka bachcha ek hi achha (for a lion, one offspring is enough). This is wrong…If there is one child, where all will you send him? To protect the border… or make him a scientist or he will take care of business…. So, we need four children. One can go to protect the borders, one can serve the society, give one to the saints and one to VHP to serve the nation and protect the culture. This is very important,” she said. Prachi contested the 2012 Assembly elections on BJP ticket from Purkazi constituency in Uttar Pradesh. She was among persons accused of inciting riots through their provocative speeches at Muzaffarnagar in 2013 and was later granted bail. (With inputs from PTI)